Literature: Tuesday , Octo ber 2, 2012

1. Literature: Tuesday, October 2, 2012 Handouts: * None Homework: * Read an AR book daily and record progress on chart* Have a SUPER week!  Assignments Due: None Yesterday’s challenge: Years ago, one of my classes at SCAPA temporarily lost the opportunity for ongoing Treasure Chest drawings. It happened after the very first drawing. But fortunately, they figured out what was so offensive and took steps to correct the problem. Can you guess why they almost didn’t get any more Treasure Chest drawings?

2. Today’s Goal: Demonstrate what you have learned by taking a test over “Terms in Literature." Outcomes: Examine the chronology of events leading up to 9/11 and post-9/11. Analyze the cause-and-effect events that led to 9/11. Analyze the cause-and-effect events that have changed our country as a result of 9/11. Evaluate the cause-and-effect changes that have occurred since 9/11. [Cause and Effect: Think of dominoes. . . .] Analyze the text features used in today’s PowerPoint slides to learn how to create an effective PP presentation.

3. Starter #1 Several weeks ago when we examined what happened on 9/11, a number of you wanted to know: Why did this happen? What motivated someone to attack the U.S.? Your questions reminded me of those posed by other students of mine, former 6thgrade students who are now in high school. About five years ago, I discovered a pattern among my social studies students. They were confused about who instigated 9/11. At that time, our country was involved in a war with Iraq, a war that began in 2003 and did not end until last December. My students assumed the reason we were at war with Iraq was because of 9/11. In fact, even some adults have mistakenly thought that the reason we went to war with Iraq was because of 9/11.

4. Starter #2 The truth is, Iraq and its leaders had nothing to do with 9/11. But because of 9/11, our country changed dramatically (that is, in big ways). We wanted to make sure something like 9/11 never happened again. Our leaders vowed to find the instigators, bring them to justice, and protect us from any future “terrorist attacks.” That desire to prevent another 9/11 from happening led our leaders to do some things that they might never have done were it not for the impact of 9/11. And one of those things was our decision to go to war with Iraq. We had no reason to believe Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attack. But in our zeal to make sure we didn’t experience another “terrorist attack” on our U.S. soil, we may have made a number of unwise decisions. That’s for you to decide. . . .

5. Starter #3 The PP presentation we are about to see is one that I created four or five years ago to help students find answers to their questions about 9/11, about our war with Iraq, and about terrorism in general. As you view this, ask yourself: * How do I feel about the decisions our leaders made? * If I were an adult in leadership at that time, would I have made the same decisions? * As an ordinary citizen, would I have agreed with and supported those decisions? I’m interested to hear what you think. Save your questions and comments until after we have viewed the whole presentation.